"Jade, you know I'll always care about you."
"It's too late for that," he said and walked out. He went to the guestroom next door and closed the door. The chamber seemed … foreign to him. It would be his last night with the Immortals, for no one would forgive him once he followed through with the plans forming in his mind.
Kris waited until the guest bedroom door closed before he motioned to one of the Immortals posted on either end of the hallway. With a sinking heart, he realized he'd lost the Jade who'd been his friend and lover for a few hundred years. Something was drastically altered about his friend, and the thin collar around his neck told Kris everything he needed to know. What he didn't know was what happened to his other lieutenant, Iliana. If Sasha was telling the truth, the chances of her being alive weren't good.
"Post six guards in this hallway. No one leaves this floor unless it's me. Understood?"
The Immortal nodded and trotted away to gather more. Kris waited until five Immortals were present in the hall before he retreated to his conference room. Once more, he caught himself thinking of Andre and missing his brother's-- and best friend's-- guidance.
Andre was dead-dead. He had to do what Andre would have done.
Kris crossed to his burnt-out bedchamber and dug through a trunk in the closet. He withdrew a dagger he'd purposely buried there, never intending to follow in the footsteps of Andre's enforcer role. It was the dagger used to kill Rhyn's mother, and the same one Andre would've used to kill Sasha for breaking his sacred oaths and trying to kill his brothers.
It was the same one he'd use to kill Jade and Sasha.
Kris closed his eyes. He didn't want this role. It wasn't in his nature. As much as he didn't want to admit it, this was a role for Rhyn, who had brought the Council back. He gave his youngest brother no credit for understanding either the importance of the Council or the good intentions behind bringing the Council back together, but Rhyn knew how to use brute violence when it was needed.
"You going hunting?"
He whirled to face the man of whom he thought.
"For me?" Rhyn asked with a cunning smile. "You're the best Immortal warrior there is. It'd be an honor to kill you."
"Believe it or not, I was thinking of killing someone else," Kris replied, rising. He tucked the dagger into his belt and shoved Rhyn out of his way as he exited the closet.